Frugal Tip Tuesday – invest in a good coffee maker and travel mug

A big love in our house is coffee. I was never a coffee drinker, until I met the man who became my husband. He however, has been drinking coffee regularly since he was like 12. For my husband, it is a morning AND afternoon necessity, I’m just a morning drinker. So to support this habit of ours, we have this bad boy:

We received it as a shower gift from my mother in law (who is even more coffee crazy). It brews an entire pot in under 2 minutes. I don’t know how you non Tim Hortons coffee maker people stand the 20 minute wait! We also buy the big cans of store brand coffee, and load up when it is on sale. Our coffee maker is brewing pots usually twice a day, and up to 3 or 4 times a day on the weekend. We needed to invest in a durable machine, so the $120 price tag was worth it (especially since it was a gift from a fellow addict, who uses the same machine!). Some appliances are worth spending more money on. I know some people just keep buying cheap coffee makers, sometimes they last just over a year! We have never had any problems with ours, and have been working it hard it for 2 and a half years now.

Another good investment; decent travel mugs. We have bought many cheap ones over the years; they warp, they leak, they just plan suck! So a couple of years ago I finally bought this one:

mine isn't this pattern, but it is the same mug

It’s from Starbucks, and I think cost $12 CDN on sale (regular was maybe $ 20 CDN….). I LOVE IT! Its tall and slim, so it fits well in my tiny hands, no handle to get in the way of putting it in a pocket on a bag or cup holder in a car. It is super easy to clean, and doesn’t leak when used properly.

My husband has never found a travel mug he likes, so I bought him this one for his first fathers day:

his is this very nice shade of blue

This one is Oxo, and I found at Kitchen Stuff Plus, and it was $15 CDN. The sales lady raved about it, it is guaranteed to be leak proof, and seemed easy to clean. However, it is NOT easy to clean by hand (the lid comes apart and is top rack dishwasher safe, but we all know that ruins travel mugs!) Washing it by hand is a pain, and I have to use the bottle brush, ugh, but it looks nice and doesn’t leak (when used properly) .One great feature, you can drink out of any side, handy for the hubby when he is on the commuter train playing video games!

Here’s the thing. Travel mugs are only good if you use them properly; fill them properly, clean them properly. Even if it says leak proof, you can’t over fill it. Or if you over fill it by mistake, drink some or pour some out, then you’ll have a bit of a leak from the liquid left on the rim. Same with cleaning, even if it says dishwasher safe, I clean it by hand. The heat from the dishwasher will eventually warp the plastic and weaken the rubber seal. So take care of it, and it will last you longer! Same goes for the coffee maker. We give ours a very thorough vinegar cleaning, usually, every 6 months. It even came with this brush to clean out the hoses.

Invest in good quality once, instead of buying cheap things over and over. Or worse, standing in line to buy your coffee each and every morning.